The present invention relates to highway construction equipment, and more particularly to a high illumination, non-glare mobile light that operates using the DC power from a vehicle's battery and charging system.
Everyday, roads and bridges are subjected to significant wear and tear due to large amounts of traffic traveling on them. The wear and tear due to traffic, coupled with wear and tear due to exposure to the elements, requires such roads and bridge to be periodically repaired. Because the roads and bridges are used everyday by many people for commuting to work or for conducting other business, typically, any repairs to the roads or bridges must be done during off-peak hours, which are often at night when a minimal number of vehicles travel the roads and bridges.
When repair work on roads and bridges is done at night, there is a need for adequate lighting of the work zone in which the repairs are being performed so that highway workers are capable of seeing the condition of the roads and bridges they are repairing and the work that they are performing to complete the repairs. Typically, the highway construction crews use a number of work lights that provide high illumination of the work zone area.
One of the problems presented by the use of the high illumination lights in a construction work zone is the glare that is produced by the lights. This glare can significantly reduce the vision of motorists approaching the work zone. If the loss of vision produced by the work zone light glare is significant enough, it can result in motorists becoming disoriented because of an inability to see the workers and equipment in the construction zone. The result can be an accident in which the motorist or workers in the work zone are injured.
Another concern that arises with the use of lights to illuminate a work zone is the need to provide a source of power to operate the lights. Typically, because of the large amount of illumination produced by such lights, the power requirements of the lights require the provision of one or more gasoline powered generators to operate the lights. The need to provide generators to operate the lights requires additional cost to obtain and operate the generators and space to accommodate the generators.